Mayor lashes out at school district

Anthony Garzilli

Wednesday

Sep 28, 2011 at 11:41 AM

Ridgeland Mayor Gary Hodges hoped to be on Monday's Jasper County school board agenda, but he said he was denied a spot after a meeting last Wednesday with superintendent Vashti Washington and board chairwoman Kathleen Snooks. He was told there were too many items on the agenda, but there'd be room on the Oct. 10 agenda. Hodges didn't want to wait."I'm being intentionally delayed," Hodges said last week. Instead, Hodges attended the meeting and signed-in to make public comments. The standing-room only crowd included 11 people who signed-in to speak, including Samuel Gregory."To say we can't have a parade in Ridgeland, is an embarrassing thing," he said. "As (public speaker John Youmans) said, all these businesses in Jasper County, it's telling us, 'We don't need you.' The mayor did this. This is a mess that you can't seem to get around."Hodges addressed the parade fees. The town recently instituted a policy to charge $1,000 for parades, but the police chief can raise or lower the fee based on the length of the parade route and number of officers required. A parade typically requires 10 off-duty officers. The fee can also be reduced if the sheriff's office provides deputies.Sheriff Greg Jenkins said he'd work with Ridgeland police chief Richard Woods to provide assistance for the homecoming parade.Ridgeland High's homecoming parade is scheduled for Oct. 7, and at the Sept. 12 board meeting, the board discussed possible parade alternatives.But, according to Hodges, months ago he proposed an agreement. The school district billed the town $840 for use of several rooms at the Ridgeland campus for August's Jasper County Pageant, but under Hodges' proposal, the district would provide use of the (tax-payer owned) school facilities for the beauty pageant and in exchange the town would waive its fee and provide police and support for the homecoming parade. Hodges said he tried to resolve the issue before finalizing the parade-fee ordinance. "We tried to resolve this issue several months ago without success," Hodges said. Last week Hodges said he did not ask to meet with Washington "because it would have served no purpose."Instead, he twice spoke to district spokesman Bob Huff, who discussed the matter with Washington. Washington would not waive the pageant fee.Hodges said he then spoke by phone twice with Chief of Staff Darryl Owens, about a week apart, who said he would discuss the matter with Washington. According to Hodges, Owens did not get back to him. On Monday, Owens said not following up with Hodges was "not intentional" and "anybody who knows my character knows I follow up."Hodges said Councilman Tommy Rhodes left a message for Washington and she did not return his call."This matter could have been easily resolved," Hodges said. "Instead the school closed the door on us a total of five times."At Monday's meeting the district said it received a $1,000 donation from a 1980 Ridgeland High graduate to go toward the parade fee.Hodges is also upset by board comments that the town does not support the public schools."That is totally unfounded," Hodges told the board.According to Hodges, among the ways the town supports the schools: -It provides free police and fire protection.-It is in the final phases of completing a sidewalk that connects the new campus with the old campus, a cost to the town of $75,000. -Each citizen of Ridgeland pays property taxes and 54 percent goes to the schools. - This year the town hosted two parades for the school and absorbed the cost of police officer overtime and cleanup.-In January, the town provided emergency response to a situation at the school that resulted in 300 people quarantined. It had the right, by law, to charge the district for the $10,000 expenses. The town did not. "Do you (the school district) think it's fair to say that we don't support the schools," Hodges wrote in a prepared statement. "What has (the district) done for the Town of Ridgeland other than criticize us, charge us for using our own facility, and shut us out or ignore us when we tried to resolve this entire issue several months ago?"The Town of Ridgeland is not the problem. We have done our part plus a lot more. And, you don't even appreciate that. You should be ashamed of yourselves for stirring controversy about a problem that you created."

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